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Labour market reform in Slovenia, designed to boost entrepreneurship and jobs, is instead condemning thousands of people to near poverty through precarious working conditions. An analysis by Investigate Europe’s media partner Pod črto.

He was internationally dismissed as an unwilling to change “loyal party soldier”. But after serving 100 days in office, João Lourenço, Angola’s new president, is busy purging the state apparatus of the ruling family. The daughter of the president, her banks and her phone company – or: How a regime change in Angola may affect Portugal through the accumulated wealth and the investments of the African country’s former presidential family.

The current leader of the Greek opposition, New Democracy party leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis, is odds-on favourite to become the next Greek prime minister. Both German and US media have dubbed him a “star of the people” offering Greece “a glimmer of hope”. A sworn reformist, he slams nepotism and corruption. And yet that international praise ignores hard facts – such as the inclusion of his spouse in the Paradise Papers or his personal involvement in the biggest corruption scandal of the last 30 years in Greece.

Why has the “precarisation of labour”, as sociologists call it, reached an enormous scale? And what must be done to stop it? Investigate Europe has researched these questions all across Europe. The findings are sobering. Click here to find out where you can read our stories in your national language.

The resolution to be adopted next week in Strasbourg is a major step towards further militarisation of the EU. For the first time ever, the European Parliament makes the case for the creation of a Commission Directorate General (DG)-Defence. Rapporteur Michael Gahler is also the head of Kangaroo, a lobby group promoting security and defence imperatives in the EU institutions for decades.

Detail of the article as published by Der Tagesspiegel. Illustration by Julia Schneider

Millions of Europeans in temporary, part-time or bogus self-employed contracts can only find insecure and badly paid jobs, despite the healthy economic climate. That is the price of deregulating labour markets, Investigate Europe reports. This precarious set of labour conditions was created intentionally. FULL ENGLISH VERSION

All across Europe, from Finland to Portugal, Ireland to Greece, the information technology (IT) of government administrations is based on Microsoft programs. This dependence has severe consequences. Investigate Europe’s research will be published in more then 12 countries this time – click here to find out where you can read the stories in your national language

On May 12 hackers hit more than a hundred countries exploiting a stolen N.S.A. tool that targeted vulnerabilities of Microsoft software. The attacks infected only machines running Windows. Among the victims are public administrative bodies such as NHS hospitals in the UK. Investigate Europe spent months to investigate the dire dependency of European countries on Microsoft – and the security risks this entails. Read our full investigation in ENGLISH.

With filming and interviews in Athens, Lesbos, Lisbon, Brussels and Naples, the documentary by VICE Greece follows the cross-border work of the Investigate Europe journalists as they investigate the industries that are banking on the border business and the security threats in Europe.

Leading Russian security software company Kaspersky is drafting an official anti-trust behavior complaint to submit to the European Commission. At least three security software companies “met several times” with the EU’s Competition Commission (DG Comp) to complain about Microsoft “crashing” competition.

The consortiums led by the Portuguese company Tekever, the Portuguese Air Force and Italian Leonardo won the largest European public drone tender. Unmanned aerial vehicles will, for the first time, fly over migratory routes in the Mediterranean

Far from the public eye, the governments of the European Union are pursuing a weighty long-term plan to use technology on a massive scale for the control of the European borders. But will the desired surveillance system serve its purpose? Will it make Europe safer? We, Investigate Europe, a team of nine journalists from eight different countries, have tried to find answers to those questions. Click here to find out where you can read our first EU-wide story in your national language.

One section of the cemetery in Castellammare del Golfo in Sicily has been reserved for drowned migrants. Just a few of them have names on them. Credit: Ingeborg Eliassen

There is no official record of the number of refugees who go missing crossing the Mediterranean Sea trying to reach Europe. This is not a coincidence. Our investigation as published via News Deeply IN ENGLISH.

EU uses warships against smuggling networks that put fragile rubber boats on the Mediterranean. But on the boats are only the desperate. The smugglers are on shore. Read our story on “Operation Sophia” – published in Norway and Portugal – IN ENGLISH.

The European Union is planning comprehensive controls of its external borders. “Investigate Europe,” a team of journalists from eight countries, has uncovered: It is costing billions – but the only beneficiaries are the weapon and electronics industries. Read our main findings IN ENGLISH.

Flags in front of the EU commission in Brussels Photo: Alvaro Millan/flickr

Consultants who advise the European Commission (EC) on its security policies have also been working for companies that win related research projects, funded by the European Union, raising concerns about conflict of interest. IN ENGLISH

Investigate Europe

We, nine experienced journalists from eight European countries, are "Investigate Europe". We will research as a multinational team. We will share, merge and crosscheck facts – tackling the usual national bias. We will point out responsible transnational structures and actors in issues of European-wide relevance to make it possible to hold them accountable.